Who this is-and isn't-for.

First Principles attracts a specific kind of student.

Not a specific age, fitness level, or background — a specific disposition. . 

It's for you if: 

— You want to start something real, not sample it

— You want to understand why a technique works, not just copy its shape

— You'd rather be in a small group with real instruction than a packed class where you figure it out yourself 

— You want instructors who train regularly in a real martial art 

— You've been curious about a traditional martial art and want a structured way in 

It's not for you if you want: 

— You want a taster before deciding whether jujutsu is worth your time

— You're looking for fitness with a martial arts theme 

— You want to try a few classes before committing to anything 

— You're expecting to be eased in gradually over weeks before anything is really asked of you 

— Anything taught by people who don't train regularly themselves 

A walk-in trial is available any time if that's what you're looking for. First Principles is something different.

Four weeks.
Structured.
Skills built session by session.

A course. Not a trial

There's a difference between trying something and starting it. 

A trial class lets you sample — you see the room, you meet the instructor, you get a feel. That's real and it's available here any time. But a trial doesn't teach you jujutsu. It shows you jujutsu from the outside. 

First Principles is structured from session one as the beginning of the art — not an introduction to whether you might want to begin.   A sequenced four weeks where each lesson earns the next. 

By the final session you'll have two techniques, five attacks, and the principles connecting them. More importantly, you'll understand why they connect. 

Four lessons. One class a week. Twelve students maximum.

How the four weeks is structured

Lesson 1 — The shape of jujutsu 

Kamae — how you stand, and why posture comes before anything else. Two body movements from that position: irimi (entering) and irimi senkai (entering with rotation). How to deliver and receive a committed attack safely. Your first technique — applied against a real attack from a training partner, with the breakfall needed to receive it. Both of you are training simultaneously from the moment you face each other. 

Lesson 2 — Leading unbalancing and the first lock 

The principle beneath lesson 1 is named and deepened. You learn what actually happened when the technique worked — and why. A second technique is introduced from the same entry: the first joint lock with pain compliance. The training agreement between partners is established clearly before it's introduced. Resistance is not combat — it's information that tells you the unbalancing isn't complete yet. 

Lesson 3 — Creating the moment 

A new body movement — nagashi, flowing — for when you're late and the attack has already committed. The attack is now to the face. A new first contact mechanic: light, precise, a consequence of position rather than a technique in itself. From there, a familiar technique arrives from a completely different road. By the end of this lesson the same technique has been applied from four different attacks. The realisation: techniques belong to positions, not to the attacks that created them. 

Lesson 4 — Calm, patience, response 

One new attack — a grab rather than a strike — and a new unbalancing direction. Then everything is tested together. Reflex training: you in kamae, knowing an attack is coming but not which one. The patience to let the attack show itself. Body movement first — then the technique found from wherever that movement leads. The lesson closes with an honest account of what was built across four weeks, what wasn't covered, and what comes next.

Worth a quick message?

Have a question? Ask anything. Andre replies personally — what it's like in the room, whether your situation works, anything at all. Tap the button and it opens Messenger with a message already written — just hit send, or change it to whatever you actually want to ask. 

No commitment, no booking.

Who teaches it

Andre Diaz owns and runs Self Defence Central Dojo. He holds the rank of Sandan (3rd Dan) in Tsutsumi Hozan Ryu Jujutsu and has been training in the Jan de Jong lineage since 1985 — nearly forty years. 

First Principles is taught by Andre directly. Not delegated to a senior student, not shared across instructors mid-course. The same person teaches all four lessons — because the rapport built in lesson one is what makes lesson four's reflex training land the way it should. 

Andre trained under Shihan Hans de Jong, who received the art from his father Shihan Jan de Jong — one of the most significant figures in the transmission of Japanese jujutsu outside Japan. This is the lineage the course is built from. It matters because jujutsu has depth that takes decades to transmit — and what's taught here comes from someone who's been receiving that transmission for nearly four decades. 

The instructors who teach First Principles teach the dojo's regular jujutsu classes too. They train every week themselves.

What this course is not

Not a grading preparation course. 

The first adult grade is 4–6 months of twice-weekly training. First Principles is where that journey starts — not a shortcut through it. 

Not a sampler. 

The art has throwing, ground work, weapons, and decades of depth. None of that is in these four weeks. What's here is the reason all of it works. 

Not a trial with structure around it. 

Walk-in trials are available year-round. They're a different thing and they serve a different purpose. If you enrol in First Principles, you've decided to start — not to decide whether to start.

The price

$120 for the four-week course. 

Twelve students maximum. Andre teaches all four sessions.

If it's not for you

The first lesson is the most accessible — kamae, movement, one technique. By the end of lesson two, joint locking with pain compliance has been introduced. If by the end of lesson two the course isn't what you came for — full refund.